Corn-harvesting machine.



A. A. WEBBER. CORN HARVESTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1912.

1 097 693 Patented May 26, 1914.

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APPLICATION FILED MAYB, 1912.

Patented May 26, 1914,

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A. A. WEBBER.

CORN HARVESTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1912.

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|| I Br s w u n J UH ALLIE A. WEBBER, 0F GAS'ILETON, ILLINOIS.

CORN-HARVESTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1914.

Application filed May 6, 1912. Serial No. 695,467.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLIE A. WEBBER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Castleton, in the county of Stark and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn-HarvestingMachines, of which the following is a specification, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in corn harvesting machines, theprimary object being to provide a machine for this purpose wherein arecombined the features of lightness of draft simplicity of constructionand compactness in the arrangement of the several elements employed,thereby conducing to durability in practical use and comparatively lowcost of manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a corn harvesting machinewhich is particularly designed with a view to pre vent the shelling ofthe corn from the cob when the same is removed or picked from thestanding stalk, and also during the movement of the corn through themachine to its point of discharge.

A still further object of the invention resides in the provision of acorn harvesting machine embodying in its combination rotary harvestingrollers to detach the corn from the stalk, and a conveyer to receive thecorn said rollers being so mounted and arranged with relation to eachother that they direct the corn upon the conveyor in their rotarymovement.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in thenovel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement ofthe parts hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claim andshown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a corn harvesting machine embodying the present invention;Fig. 2 is a top plan view; Fig. 3 is a rear end elevation. Fig. 4: is adetail perspective view of the hanger bearing memher.

In corn harvesting machines of that type wherein spirally ribbed rollersare employed to remove the corn from the standing stalks, it has beenfound that a considerable part of the corn, is shelled from the cob asthe rollers remove the husk from the corn in their rotary movement. Itis also a well known fact that corn to be used for cattle feeding is tooconcentrated in itself and must therefore be mixed with hay or otherfodder. The present invention is designed to overcome the loss of thecorn as above noted and also to harvest the ears of corn with part ofthe husk still remaining there on so that the same will serve as aproper cattle food without requiring the mixture of other foddertherewith. I accomplish these ends by means of the improved mechanismwhich I will now proceed to set forth in detail.

As best shown in Fig. l of the drawings a frame a is provided, saidframe being mounted to oscillate upon the stub axles upon which thesupporting wheels 5 and 6 respectively are mounted. From the bull wheel5 the various harvesting and conveying mechanisms are primarilyactuated. Power is transmitted from the sprocket wheel 7 loosely mountedupon the wheel axle through the medium of the chain 9 which traversessaid sprocket and a similar sprocket 8 keyed to the transverse shaft 11which is mounted in suitable bearings on the frame 4. A sliding clutchmember is keyed upon the wheel axle and is adapted to be shifted bymeans of a lever 10 into engagement with clutch teeth provided on thesprocket 7 so that the operating mechanism which is driven by the shaft11 may be thrown into or out of operation at the will of the operator.

Upon the machine frame the usual inclined guide boards 12 for the grainstalks are mounted. The lower forward ends of these guide boards havetheir inner edges divergently disposed to form a flaring mouth in whichthe grain stalk is received in the movement of the machine. A familiartype of tilting device generally indicated by the numeral 13 is mountedupon the tongue T to tilt the frame of the machine upon the wheel axleand dispose the lower ends of the guide boards 12 with relation to theground so that said boards will assist in picking up the wind blown ordown fallen stalks. A raising and lowering device in dicated at 1 isalso provided to coeperate with the tilting device and assist the samein the accomplishment of the above function. This latter device is quitecommon in the art, being usually employed upon all self bindingharvesters. The tilting device is actuated by means of a suitable lever15 while the lowering and raising device is controlled by means of thecrank 16.

Upon a suitable support arranged beneath the guide boards 12, thedirecting chains 17 are provided, said chains carrying lugs or fingers18 to engage the corn stalks and assist in directing the same to thespirally ribbed stripping or harvesting rollers to be later referred to.These chains traverse the lower and upper sprockets l9 and 20respectively, the latter sprockets being keyed to the shafts 21 to whichshafts the sprockets 22 are also secured. Chains 23 traverse the lattersprockets and extend around the sprockets 24 one of which is fixed uponthe upper end of the inclined shaft 26. With the sprockets 24 the spurgears 25 are integrally formed and it will therefore be seen that whenthe actuating shaft 26 is rotated movement is imparted through themedium of the meshing gears 25 to the chains 23 in opposite directionsaround their respective sprockets. The actuating shaft 26 is providedwith a beveled gear 27 on its lower end which meshes with a doublebeveled gear 28 keyed to the transverse shaft 11.

The stripping or harvesting rollers 29 above referred to are arrangedbeneath the directing chains 17 and the chains 23 and disposed at anangle with relation thereto. As will be noted from reference to Fig. 1said rollers are positioned at an angle of substantially 45 degrees withrelation to the frame of the machine. These rollers are provided withspiral peripheral ribs extending therearound in relatively oppositedirections. The longitudinal axes of the rollers are disposed inparallel relation but the axis of one roller is disposed below that ofthe other roller for a purpose which will be apparent from the followingdescription. These rollers are journaled at their lower ends in suitablebearings provided on the frame of the machine and have trunnions ontheir upper ends mounted in a support or hanger 29 This hanger includesthe attaching plate 29 which is provided with openings at its ends toreceive suitable fastening bolts and the spaced arms 29 and 29 formedupon opposite ends of said plate but projecting in the same direct-iontherefrom. The arm 29 is provided upon its end with a bearing 29 toreceive the shaft of one of the rollers 29. The other arm 29 is alsoprovided intermediatev of its ends with a bearing 29 to receive theshaft of the other roller. The lower end of this latter arm is extendedat substantially right angles to the upper portion thereof and isprovided upon its extremity with a bearing 29% the major axis of whichis disposed in a plane at substantially right angles to thecorresponding axis of the bearing 29 The bearing 29 is adapted toreceive the upper end of the operating shaft 33. To these trunnio-nsthespur gears 30 are fixed, said gears meshing with each other to impartrotary movement to the rollers in relatively opposite directions. Abeveled gear 31 is keyed to one of the roller trunnions and meshes withthe larger beveled gear 32 on the upper end of the inclined shaft 33whlch is provided on its lower end with a gear 34 to mesh with anactuating gear 35 keyed upon the shaft 11.

A longitudinally extending conveyer apron 37 is mounted in the machineframe adjacent and beneath the lowermost harvesting roller 29. Thisconveyer is supported for movement around the rollers 38 and 39 at thefront and rear ends of the machine. The latter roller is positivelydriven to impart motion to the conveyer. For this purpose the gear 41 iskeyed to the roller shaft 40 and meshes with the gear 42 keyed upon themain driving shaft 11.

A short longitudinally disposed shaft 43 is mounted in the rear end ofthe frame 4 and is provided on one end with a gear 44 to mesh with thedouble gear 28 on the shaft 11. A sprocket wheel 45 is loosely mountedupon the shaft 43 and is traversed by a chain 46 which extends around asmaller sprocket wheel 47 keyed upon the shaft 48 of a roller over whichan endless conveyer 49 arranged in the elevator casing 50 moves. Asimilar roller is of course also provided at the upper end of theelevator casing. A sliding clutch member 43 is keyed on the shaft 43 toengage a clutch face provided on the sprocket 45 whereby said sprocketmay be secured upon the shaft to rotate therewith. Suitable leveractuated means generally indicated by the numeral 52- is providedwhereby this clutch may be shifted from the operators seat to instantlydiscontinue the elevation of the corn when desired.

From the above description it is believed that the construction andmanner of operation of my improved harvesting machine will be clearlyunderstood. As the machine moves over the field the stalks aresuccessively directed by the boards 12 into engagement with therearwardly moving fingers 18 on the chains 17, which fingers serve todirect and retain the stalks in position between the oppositely rotatingrollers 29. The ribs on these rollers engaging the stalks remove theears of corn therefrom without tearing the husk completely from the sameso that the corn with a portion of the husk remaining thereon isdirected by the lowermost rotating roller 29 upon the longitudinallyextending conveyer 37. This conveyer carries the corn rearwardly anddischarges the same into the boot or lower end of the elevator 50 whereit is received upon the conveyer 49 and carried to the upper end of theelevator from which point it is discharged into a rack or wagon which isdriven alongside of the machine in its movement across the field. Itwill be noticed that the elevator 50 is slightly in clined rearwardlyfrom the perpendicular and is arranged in the rear downwardly bent endportion of the frame 4: as shown in Fig. 1. Thus when the forward end ofthe guide members 12 are lowered by tilting the frame of the machine,the elevator will be disposed substantially in a perpendicular plane.

As comparatively few elements are employed in the construction of myimproved corn harvester, it will be obvious that the same is extremelystrong and durable in practical use, may be inexpensively manufacturedand is highly efficient in operation. While I have shown and describedthe preferred form and construction of the several parts, it will beunderstood that the invention is susceptible of considerablemodification without departing from the essential features orsacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

What I claim is The combination with a corn harvesting machine includinga frame, snapping ml ers geared to each other and mounted in said frame,and an operating shaft for said rollers; of a common hanger bearing forsaid rollers including a single attaching plate secured to the frame andprovided with spaced integral arms projecting in parallel relation toeach other from said plate, one of said arms being of greater lengththan the other and having an angularly disposed end portion providedwith a bearing sleeve, the extremity of the shorter arm being alsoprovided with a bearing sleeve, said longer arm being provided with anadditional sleeve intermediate of its ends, said latter sleeve and thesleeve on the end of the shorter arm receiving the shafts of therespective snapping rollers, the operating shaft being mounted in thebearing sleeve on the extremity of the longer arm, and powertransmission gears on the end of the operating shaft and the shaft ofone of the snapping rollers.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ail-ix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

ALLIE A. WEBBER.

Witnesses:

VVM. S. KING, W. A. SMITH.

(lopies of this patent may be obtained .for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

